The Armour Archive

schreiber

Are you starting your flutes with a bead roller?

schreiber

Everything that was made back then was not perfect. But that's what I was getting at: some of the things that were made back then are perfect, like the aforementioned celestial clocks. The tone of this thread seemed to be "leave dings in your work, because if you don't it's not authentic"...

schreiber

Regarding uneven lines... How well established is this idea? Isn't it the case that much of what shows up in museums has been repaired at some point in the last 500 years? Isn't it the case that much is also a composite of several armors? Without knowing the particulars of Mr. Gillaspie's example, I...

schreiber

How big is your hammer? How sharp is your chisel? How fast are you going? I like my chisel to be a little blunt. I also use a light hammer. The ones that come in the HF auto body set are nice. I go slowly and get a rhythm going, and to tell the truth, it just clicked with me. I have more trouble adj...

schreiber

Actually, you're wrong about sanding. When you use a flint & steel, you are actually using the flint (which is harder than the steel) to shave off sections of the steel. Because the steel has a crystal structure (and a bunch of other chemistry stuff I sort of understand) the act of shearing off ...

schreiber

Very interesting idea. How hard was it to mate up the top and bottom pieces? Also, do you have pictures of greaves made from that pattern?

Thanks for sharing. I always like seeing different ideas like this.

schreiber

In the six months, did you manage to find gunbroker or gunsamerica?
I don't mind stuff like this showing up here, but there are other sites more geared toward selling firearms.

schreiber

There is too much information you didn't tell us. What kind of leather is it? If it's not vegetable tanned leather, then no, there's generally nothing you can do. Is it finished with something? Heavily oiled or waxed? That's going to get in the way of a dye job. Are you planning on disassembling the...

schreiber

Color me confused.
Are you saying that you're going to be retailing these, and that they're going to be $45, for any of us to order?
How is that possible? That's easily a $120 pair of shoes.

schreiber

Many kudos for not creating a "lames only" rerebrace. The one thing I'd say that I'd change is that the shoulder itself doesn't seem deep enough. I assume you're looking at the Stapleton brass - it seems to me that the shoulder depicted there is more of a graceful curve when viewed from th...

schreiber

sha-ul wrote:who around makes or sells starter garb?

You do.

schreiber

I think the TOMAR piece is an original, and that you'd have to have a toolmaker make something like this. Ditto on the CAD and outlay of several thousand dollars. Lots of people do it by hand. I heard a recipe once for basically using repousse pitch. You somehow roll the edge over a bead of repousse...

schreiber

This looks like a better source.

http://www.najecki.com/repro/Shoes.html

schreiber

Interesting problem. The pictures are a little too grainy to tell a couple things. Is the overall shape very regular between pieces? Does the base of the cone always have the same number of "bumps" on it? Is the length & shape of the clinching post always the same? Regardless, I would ...

schreiber

I think it matters how big you are and how old you are. If you're 18 years old, stand 6'4" tall, and weigh over 250 lbs, then go heavier. If you're like me, smaller and not starting seriously until you're over 30, then I'd go lighter - 18 max. I say this because this craft can take a horrible t...

schreiber

I thought the main cause of global warming was ozone-depleting hairspray.

schreiber

Actually, I think the rolling pin analogy is perfect. AFAIK it's pretty common for blacksmithing students to practice hammering modeling clay. They do it to help visualize what the hammer blows will do to metal before they burn a bunch of fuel, and also to be sure of what they're doing before they a...

schreiber

What are the scales made of? Are they nail plates?

Rather inventive idea, using prefab chain to link them.

schreiber

That's a really good idea, using the cuisse leather itself as the strap. No unsightly strap overlapping the cuisse, and no chance of the poleyn slipping under the cuisse.

What will you do, though, if the rivet blows?

schreiber

16g would be fine for scouts too. The question of whether it's "legal" is in black and white - according to the rules, it's not legal, because significant portions are not constructed using rivets or welds. If you individually riveted or welded every one of the lames, it would be legal, pr...

schreiber

Drop me a PM when you get into the area.
I have a fairly decent shop set up. I am actually more interested in making armor than fighting, so I only get into melees.
I could arrange time for a get-em-on-the-field session or two, but I think there is a bona fide guild up that way.

schreiber

Where are you in Atlantia? My answer to your question would depend greatly on where your local talent is, and who it is.

If your local talent consists of people who only know how to rivet, that's different than if it includes a person with a fairly decked out shop.

schreiber

If I were the one doing it, and it was getting painted, I wouldn't even bother with metal.
I'd probably try out thermoplastic. Depending on the number of plays, paper mache, plaster strips, possibly thin leather.
There's a reason why everyone in movies featuring armor is wearing painted plastic.

schreiber

I've only seen vervelles used, and I always assumed the leather was to keep the mail from scratching the bascinet, or possibly to deaden the sound of getting hit (since they used batons, and it must have rung just as bad back then). Vervelles are small posts that screw in perpendicularly to the helm...

schreiber

Absolutely. I don't have a rosebud for my O/P but the welding tips do OK. I also bought a lot of used oxygen concentrators a while ago and use them to some good effect. Like these: m Only I got mine as a pile of junk for $50USD... out of the 12 I bought, 5 work ok, so it was worth it. They're mainly...

schreiber

Excited to no end, I just looked up "punch" at tractor supply, only to find the same sheet metal stamped PoS available anywhere. Link? I bought mine at Tandy (back when there were still stores) for $45 and cried for three days at having to spend so much money on it. The bottom line is that...

schreiber

Panther isn't really a "reenactor supply" type of place. They sell a lot more to CW & Revwar crowds, and if it looks medievalish, then they sell it to medieval types as well. It's not like Historic where they tell you "this is a replica of an actual piece". You have to know y...

schreiber

I'd be really tempted to just use the charcoal. My experience has been that you pretty much need a rosebud running on oxygen - and a lot of it - to get to the heats you are looking for without resorting to building a custom raising forge. I tried to look for photos, but couldn't find any. The basic ...

schreiber

Ok, so you're talking about the Greater Toronto Area, not Grand Theft Auto, right?

schreiber

Well, please take this as constructive criticism and nothing more. I personally will never have the flesh side of leather touch my skin on another piece of armor, ever. IMO that's the best way to lose new fighters, and that's who you're aiming for with those prices. If it's compressed leather or oth...

schreiber

Clermont: I hadn't thought of it that way. That's definitely stuff to be considered: aside from stakes and heat, you could likely get away with spending under $100 on armoring tools if you're only doing 20g 1050. Also, I think it would open up the possiblity of using silversmithing lines of tools, w...

schreiber

First, you're really going to have to spend some time thinking about this if you want it to happen right. All the advice in the world didn't do anything for me until I spent about 6 weeks, 3 nights a week, pounding out piece after piece after piece after piece and sitting listening to the radio and ...

schreiber

Seahorse + White Belt = knowledge of whether or not a light helm is a good idea without the help of the online armoring community. Sieghart, do not try to make anything out of spring first. It'll be a waste of material. As you learn, you'll create a mountain of failed pieces. I still carry a packing...

schreiber

Am I remembering correctly.... I think the rotary shears have a serrated blade, and that only one side of the cut is worth doing something with. With a beverly there are cases where you can butt pieces right up against each other while you're laying out, and I think there's less room for that sort o...

schreiber

I'm limited on space (1 car garage) so I pretty much had to get the stake plate. If I had more space, I would have gotten a railroad tie or other large beam. I would have chiseled out holes for individual stakes and probably would have made do with 4-5 different stakes for the whole beam. TOMAR deta...

Re: basic,econo-garb for noobs